Warner Music Group appoints Rob Cavallo as chief creative officer

MUMBAI: Warner Music Group Corp. has named music producer, Rob Cavallo, as chief creative officer. Cavallo will provide WMG with his services as a producer and an A&R executive.

Cavallo has produced or had creative involvement in albums that have sold more than 125 million units over the past 16 years, nearly 30 million of those units in the last five years alone. In 1998, Cavallo was awarded the Producer of the Year Grammy and was nominated for the same award in 1999 and 2004. Cavallo has also won Grammys for his producing work with Green Day, including Best Rock Album for American Idiot in 2004 and, in 2005, Record of the Year for Boulevard of Broken Dreams. His work has amassed six Grammy awards, an Oscar, a Golden Globe and numerous nominations.

In making the announcement, WMG’s vice chairman and chairman and CEO Recorded Music Americas and the U.K. Lyor Cohen said: "Rob is one of the most successful producers of our time and is not only a natural fit for our company but will also serve as a terrific resource for our artists and labels and, on a selective basis, for outside projects with other artists and labels. Having worked with Rob on numerous albums in a variety of genres, I have seen first-hand the creative brilliance he brings to the studio and the passion he brings to every project. I am excited we’ll have the ability to benefit from his exceptional talents and look forward to a long-term collaboration that will benefit many WMG recording artists."

"WMG has been my musical home since I started as an intern in 1987, and I am so proud to be working there again," said Cavallo. "The company’s artist- and art-first approach to the business is unmatched and their artist roster is a deep and exciting pool of talent that I am excited to add to, work with and help develop more fully. Throughout the years I’ve done some of my finest work with WMG and I have been consistently impressed with the company’s ability and willingness to drive success by supporting the creative process and giving artists and producers the freedom they need to achieve greatness. In the end, it’s the people that make the difference, and I am so proud to be in the WMG family."

"Having enjoyed a long and successful relationship with Rob at Warner Bros., I am thrilled about having him rejoin the company in this broader role," said Warner Bros chairman and CEO. Records Tom Whalley. "Rob’s been a vital creative partner for so many of our artists and working alongside the team at Warner Bros. he’s delivered many blockbuster albums and soundtracks. I am looking forward to a strong lineup of future projects together."

"Few producers have worked with such a broad range of artists and continued to achieve creative excellence time after time the way that Rob has," said Warner Music UK CEO and Warner Bros. Records UK chairman Christian Tattersfield. "His feel for each artist’s creative vision has resulted in some incredible, genre-defining music, so I’m pleased to be able to offer our UK acts the opportunity to draw upon Rob’s creativity and experience. I look forward to working closely with Rob."

The Atlantic Records Group chairman and CEO Craig Kallman said, "Rob’s great gift as a producer is his innate ability to create a nurturing environment that allows artists to do their best work. Rather than imposing his own sound on a project, he is brilliant at identifying and bringing out the unique qualities that set an artist apart from the pack, regardless of genre. Over the last few years, Rob has used his talent and insight to make great records with a diverse group of our artists, including Kid Rock, Phil Collins, Shinedown, Paramore and Uncle Kracker. I’m thrilled to join Lyor, Tom and Christian in welcoming Rob to his new and expanded role at WMG."

Cavallo first joined Warner Bros. Records in 1987 as an A&R representative where he was originally assigned to work with Black Sabbath. In 1989, he signed the multi-Platinum band Goo Goo Dolls to Warner Bros./Reprise Records and, in 1993, signed Green Day to the label. He produced Green Day’s label debut album, Dookie. Since then, he’s produced or executive produced six of the band’s albums.

In 1999, Cavallo worked with Phil Collins on the Disney feature animated movie, Tarzan. The lead single, You’ll Be in My Heart, won an Oscar, a Grammy and a Golden Globe award for best original song from a motion picture. The song stayed at No. 1 for 19 weeks on the Billboard Hot AC chart. This was Collins’ longest running hit at that format.

In 2002, Cavallo returned to Warner Bros. Records where he produced American Idiot, as well as Green Day’s DVD/CD set,"Bullet in a Bible, which features a live performance of the band. These two bodies of work have now sold in excess of 15 million units worldwide. He has since worked extensively as an independent record producer and, in 2006, served as President of Level 7 Artists, an entertainment-technology firm he co-founded with Dr. Henry Nicholas of Broadcom.

Cavallo recently completed work on Dave Matthews Band’s Big Whiskey and the GrooGrux King (which he recently brought to WMG for distribution outside of North America).